Wow...I am so happy that my regiment of eating genius' brains has been working out. Or something has been going well. Maybe it's the fancy new khaki shorts? I'm...not exactly sure how you picked up on that...quite frankly I don't really want to know. Whatever the case is, Pie and I were quite perplexed at the overwhelming positive reaction to last week's comic. It confuses us. Success isn't something we are used to, and perhaps it's something we legitimately fear?

Lately, I've been giddily obsessive thanks in no small part to the fact that Pie and I along with a few friends have started playing our old MMO, Ragnarok Online, again. It's a rather old game now and has a very niche following; I honestly don't expect anyone to really see what I see in this game. It just has a way of captivating my interest in a way no other game has and I feel a lot of that has to do with Eastern group centric dependency play vs. Western everyone's a badass mentality. I cherish the difficulty in the game because it feels more rewarding to accomplish things. A team is often required to do anything of merit, but that's part of the allure. Each class has limitations, some of which are severe, and there are mechanics in place for certain classes to flat out disable others in PVP, similar to rock-paper-scissors. Group coordination is vital and being part of the community is critical to enjoying the game to its fullest extent.

Three years of being away and not much has really changed other than we are on an amazingly well run private server of all things. Not only has it been lovingly tweaked and balanced in a way the GMs thought was in the server's best interest, but it has also been added onto in quite remarkable ways. Even monetization is done in a sophisticated way that just feels right to the player base. It really opened my eyes to what a team of very passionate gamers could do when running a game they love, even if it is not legitimate.

I've never been a fan of private servers in the past because I want to support the developers as much as I can. After all, I want the people that make the things I love to be paid well and continue doing what they do. It becomes a bit tricky in the MMO space, however. What happens if an update destroys what you love about the game? What happens if the game ceases to be hosted? What if the company runs the game into the ground and makes playing un-enjoyable, even if you have poured hundreds of dollars in to support them?

P.S. If any of our old RO friends are reading, or anyone reading the blog is interested, please come join us in the town of Jawaii to say hi so we can (re)connect. Look for Chromatic Shift.

P.P.S. Our host recently changed our hardware. Have you notice any increase or decrease in page load speed? Please let us know here.